State Port plans to ship cars, more freight with $412 million in projects

Post date: Aug 01, 2013 7:47:47 PM

Some of the $412 million in projects on the drawing board for the Alabama State Port Authority. (courtesy of the Alabama State Port Authority)

POINT CLEAR, Alabama – The head of the Alabama State Port Authority said $412 million in new projects and expansions are slated to help the Port handle more shipping containers, finally be capable of shipping and receiving automobiles and may even pave the way for a rail link to Birmingham. Speaking to the Economic Development Association of Alabama’s summer conference this morning, Jimmy Lyons, chief executive and director of the Alabama State Port Authority, said the success of Alabama’s companies and manufacturers are boosting the fortunes of the Port. In fiscal year 2012, Lyons said the Port took in record revenues of $144 million and handled more than 25 million tons of cargo. Direct and indirect jobs tied to the Port number 127,591, he said.

But remaining successful will require constantly growing and expanding the Port to handle new business. A good portion of the new investment will boost the Port’s ability to move shipping containers between ship and rail. There is $36 million going into an intermodal rail project at the Port this year. A second $44 million intermodal rail project will follow in 2015.

In the middle of that will be $68 million spent on the second phase of the Port’s container terminal next year.

An artists rendering of the planned intermodal facility and logistics park at the Alabama State Port. (courtesy of the Alabama State Port Authority)

“Our container terminal has been a phenomenal success,” Lyons told the economic developers. Linking the container terminal to intermodal facilities such as the one Norfolk-Southern now operates in McCalla or smaller facilities operated by other railroad companies in the Birmingham area remains on Lyons’ wish list. “We would love to establish a direct link between Birmingham and Mobile either with Norfolk-Southern or CSX,” Lyons said. “It will help take some of the load off I-65.” But the future development at the Port that seemed to excite the crowd the most are the plans to start shipping cars into and out of the Port.

“We think the time is right to get into the automotive business,” Lyons said, pointing to plans for a $54 million automobile roll-on/roll off terminal to be built between 2015 and 2018. Lyons said the Port is not currently equipped to ship passenger cars but the new terminal will enable that. The growth of the port coincides with the $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal slated to double the capacity of the canal when it is completed in late 2015.

“Panama Canal expansion will serve our port well,” Lyons said, noting Mobile is one of only two Ports in the Gulf of Mexico with direct shipping service to Asia. He expects Asian trade will increase with the Panama Canal expansion. “We’re filling up every slot that’s allocated to us,” Lyons said, anticipating there will be more slot allocations from Asia as a result. But the benefits of the canal expansion could be hampered by efforts from the West Coast ports and railroads to retain business.

Lyons expects West Coast ports will fight more cargo coming through the Panama Canal and going to other ports. He said the West Coast railroads have invested in infrastructure at a rate double that of the East Coast.

Although the Port had to do a $100 million expansion to accommodate Thyssenkrupp’s steel plant in Mobile County, Lyons said the port has demonstrated with PVC-mockups that it can receive or ship any component needed with the new $600 million Airbus plant. “The beauty about Airbus is we already had everything they needed,” Lyons said. Among the other items Lyons was asked about were the state of shipping on the state’s inland waterways. “The biggest challenge the inland waterways have right now has three initials – EPA,” referring to the Environmental Protection Agency's tightening restrictions on the use of coal, the primary commodity moved along the state’s inland waterways. “Here we have a very fragile economy that is trying to recover and they’re doing everything they can to regulate the power companies out of using coal,” Lyons said. “We lose big time if coal goes away as an industry.” The inland waterways are going to primarily survive off bulk products, not so much with container shipping, Lyons said.

Despite the challenges, Lyons said the state and the Port are poised for great things. “It’s a great time to be an Alabamian,” he said. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of our state.”